From The Ashes
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Mystique and Kurt find one another at the remains of Ground Zero.


Title: "From the Ashes"  
Author: Pirate Turner  
Dedicated To: To mothers everywhere, but especially my Mother, and to all those who suffered due to Ground Zero  
Rating: PG  
Summary: Mystique and Kurt find one another at the remains of Ground Zero.  
Disclaimer: Raven "Mystique" Darkholme, Kurt "Nightcrawler" Wagner, Rogue, Irene/Destiny, Amanda "Daytripper" Sefton, and the X-Men are © & TM Marvel comics and are used without permission. The lyrics are taken from Tracy Chapman's "New Beginning" and are © and TM their rightful owner. Everything else is © & TM Pirate Turner. The author makes absolutely no profit from this story.

_The whole world's broke and it ain't worth fixing  
It's time to start all over, make a new beginning  
There's too much pain, too much suffering  
Let's resolve to start all over make a new beginning_

Two solitary figures walked alone among the tragic remains, their hearts heavy with grief and their souls aflame with anguish as they thought of all the lives that had been stolen. Despite everything that they had both faced, neither Kurt Wagner nor his mother, Raven Darkholme, could understand how one moment could have affected so many so terribly. Although neither was new to death and both had witnessed such horrors before, they could never completely get used to such horrible tragedies. As smoke coiled and drifted upwards, they passed along the gaping hole in the Earth where the two majestic towers had fallen, crushing so many unsuspecting living beings. Although Kurt's heart ached for all the innocents lost, Raven's weary heart cared only for the murdered mutants. Both had felt the sting of prejudice all their lives, but only he had found the strength to be forgiving.

_Now don't get me wrong I love life and living  
But when you wake up and look around at everything that's going down  
All wrong  
You see we need to change it now, this world with too few happy endings  
We can resolve to start all over make a new beginning_

As they continued along their lonely paths, each thought of the other though neither even began to think the other might be so close. Two soft, heart-broken sighs simultaneously escaped their lips, and their shoulders sagged with their depression.

Raven wondered what her children were doing in that very moment. Were their thoughts anywhere near Ground Zero . . . or her? Why should she still care after all this time? Kurt's your son, Raven, she thought though there was no real need for the reminder. Rogue's your child, too; even though you didn't give birth to her, you couldn't love her any less. It was true, she admitted, not for the first time. She did love them both more than she'd ever loved anybody else, but she had done so wrong by them. She'd abandoned him and ended up using Rogue even though she hadn't fully realized what she was doing at the time, and although she'd began both with the single intent of protecting them, she'd hurt both so terribly that there was no way either could ever find it in their hearts to forgive her, not to mention actually return her love.

Inside the long tails of his trench, the pointed tip of Kurt's blue tail twitched. After all this time, why couldn't he just put Raven behind him? Although she had given birth to him, she had never showed him any kind of love. He was certain she never thought of him, and yet there was not a day that went by that he did not think of her and wish that things had been different. He would have gladly given up his time with Amanda and the circus to have been able to grow up with a birth mother who loved him. Icy fingers tightly gripped his heart as tears threatened to swell yet again in his yellow eyes. Raven had never loved him; she did not even understand what love was.

_Start all over  
Start all over  
Start all over  
Start all over_

As Raven's yellow eyes gazed down at the jumbled remnants of the Twin Towers, she could not help but to compare the disaster zone with her own life. She knew that no one still living understood that she had an actual heart underneath all her layers of deadly ice. Indeed, the only person that ever had had been Irene, and she had died years ago.

For just a split second, Raven wondered if Destiny would have predicted bin Laden's attack on America. Even if she had and they had tried to do something about it, for once doing the good thing instead of just what was best for them and their people at the time, would it have even done any good? Of course not, Mystique, she thought. Some things are meant to happen . . . just like some people are meant to be alone.

Meanwhile, Kurt continued to walk blindly along, lost to thoughts of his mother and what might have been. His heart no longer ached only for those who had suffered from the terrible tragedy of Ground Zero. He had prayed every day for the families who had lost loved ones to the terrorist attacks, but now he could not help thinking that most of them had at least gotten to be with their mothers in a loving environment for at least some time. All he had ever known from his true mother was heartache, misery, and pain.

_The world is broken into fragments and pieces  
That once were joined together in a unified whole  
But now too many stand alone There's too much separation  
We can resolve to come together in the new beginning_

Both completely fell into their own miserable thoughts as they came nearer to one another. Neither looked up as they passed right by each other, never realizing that they were so close.

_Start all over  
Start all over  
Start all over  
Start all over_

Swift movement suddenly caught Kurt's eye, and he turned with sharp, expert reflexes only to see a young girl racing straight toward the gaping hole. Yelling caught his pointy ears, and his head again turned swiftly to see a frantic father racing after his daughter. "ANNA, STOP! SOMEBODY STOP HER, PLEASE!" he begged.

Raven's head snapped up at the yells, and she whirled around to see what all the commotion was just in time to see a dark puff of smoke appear not even three inches away from her. Her yellow eyes shifted instantly to the girl even as a familiar figure appeared.

Raven watched in silent pride yet deep concern as her son gently caught the crying girl in his strong arms. "Easy, fraulin," he spoke calmly to her even as a breeze whipped his fedora away from his head, revealing the face of a blue Demon.

Even as screams began from others around them, the girl did not scream but only looked at the man in terrified awe. "Wh-What are you, mister? Are-Are you Death? Di-Did you take my Mommy?" Her words were only a hushed whisper, but they stung Kurt's heart as surely as a sword's lethal blade would have.

Kurt had no time to answer Anna as he suddenly found himself surrounded by screaming people. Anna's father began to force his way through the crowd even as Raven also raced forward. Dark hair tumbled down into long waves of fire, and ivory skin turned to blue. She flipped up into the air, and by the time she came down between her son and the gathering, pushing, and furious crowd, Raven was her true self once again.

"THERE'S TWO OF THE FREAKS!"

"HAND OVER MY CHILD, YOU MONSTER!"

"DAMN MUTIES! I SWEAR YOU THINGS ARE EVERYWHERE THESE DAYS!"

"SHUT UP, YOU IMBECILES!" Raven yelled, her furious voice slicing through the air. "THIS MAN IS NOT A MONSTER. HE'S MY SON! YOU ARE THE MONSTERS! ALL HE DID WAS SAVE A CHILD'S LIFE, BUT BECAUSE HE'S DIFFERENT FROM YOU, YOU'RE ALREADY READY TO SEND HIM TO HIS DEATH! THAT'S THE SAME KIND OF PREJUDICE THAT CAUSED THE ATTACK THAT BROUGHT US ALL HERE TODAY!" It was then that she noticed Anna's father reach for a gun hidden inside his jacket; she instantly drew her gun on him before he could even fully grasp the handle of his pistol.

Slowly, Kurt set the little girl on the ground, and she raced toward her father. However, Raven kept the gun pointed at the man, her yellow eyes dangerous slits. Kurt reached for her hand, and for the first time, she did not pull away from him. She let his hand cover her gun hand. His eyes met one of hers as she kept her other eye focused on the crowd.

_We can break the cycle - We can break the chain  
We can start all over - In the new beginning  
We can learn, we can teach  
We can share the myths the dream the prayer  
The notion that we can do better  
Change our lives and paths  
Create a new world_

She knew what he was going to tell her but was still surprised at the first word that left his blue lips. "Mother . . ." She had been ready to argue with him for she knew that the least these heartless, so-called human beings deserved was a firm bullet in the heart, but at that name, she was left powerless to fight against him.

All four yellow eyes shone with unshed tears as he offered her his other hand, palm upward. She hesitated for just a second before her free hand slipped into his offered hand. His fingers closed around her hand. Then, they vanished with a "BAMF!", leaving brimstone hanging heavy in the air.

_And Start all over  
Start all over  
Start all over  
Start all over_

When they appeared again, it was on the roof of a building a considerable distance away. "Kurt, I . . ." Raven tried to speak but could not find the right words to convey how touched she was that he had, after all this time, referred to her as his Mother without any cruelty or sarcasm in his voice.

"You don't have to say anything, Mother, and you didn't have to come to my rescue. I'm thankful you did, though, because I now know that you do care for me. I'm sorry that our past is the way it is, and I now think that you are, too. I don't vant to die vithout ever truly knowing my Mother."

_The whole world's broke and it ain't worth fixing  
It's time to start all over, make a new beginning  
There's too much fighting, too little understanding  
It's time to stop and start all over  
Make a new beginning_

Raven could not stop the sheer love, relief, and joy that coursed through her veins, sending slight tremors through her body. "Oh, Kurt," she breathed, smiling even as a tear slipped from each of her yellow eyes, "you don't know how long I've hoped you'd say that."

_Start all over  
Start all over  
Start all over  
Start all over_

There was nothing more to say at that moment in time for each finally knew how the other felt. Mother and son embraced, hugging one another tightly and each silently saying a prayer of gratitude to different Gods. At that second, neither wanted to ever let go.

_We need to make new symbols  
Make new signs  
Make a new language  
With these we'll define the world_

_And start all over  
Start all over  
Start all over  
Start all over_

**The End**


End file.
